Looking for Sales Leads? Try Twitter

When we think about social media, leads and sales are somehow regarded as unseemly. It’s as if brands using social media are frowned upon if they attempt to actually generate business.

But as brands look to drive more ROI from their social media activities, it makes complete sense to see leads and sales as a reasonable objective, along, of course, with engagement, conversations, etc.

If we accept the fact leads and sales can be part of the social mix, what social media services are the most effective to make that happen?

According to an analysis of 600 U.S. B2B SMB websites conducted by Optify, Twitter generates the most leads.

“The study, which parsed over 62 million site visits, 215 million page views and 350,000 leads in 2012, found that visitors coming from Facebook made up 54% of all social media-sourced site visits, and those from Twitter just 32%. Nevertheless, Twitter accounted for 82% of all social media-originated leads, while Facebook accounted for a paltry 9% of leads. LinkedIn played a relatively minor role, accounting for 14% of site visits from social and 9% of social leads.

In some respects, the results shouldn’t be too surprising. When you think about it, Twitter is a natural medium to promote a brand’s products and services because it is where consumer go to get information and content.

On the other hand, Facebook is place for brands to engage and have conversations with consumers, while LinkedIn is where business connections happens that don’t involve sales.

Regardless of what social media service works the best to drive leads and sales, it is also important for brands to take a balanced approach.

If they try too hard to make leads and sales happen, there’s a good chance it will create a backlash from consumers who don’t want a hard sell. At the same time, brands shouldn’t be afraid to gently push their products and services. The key consideration is to slot sales into the overall mix in a smart way.

What do you think? How important is the creation of leads and sales to your brand?